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Sumit SinghalSumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

Climate Protection Supermarket in Graz, Austria by Love Architecture

The first energy self‐sufficient store that produces more energy than it uses. Organic products and a healthy lifestyle are mega trends in our society and therefore in the food industry as well. When building supermarkets, environmental friendliness and sustainability are becoming increasingly important. Economically and ecologically sustainable construction and operation minimize the ecological footprint and reduce the life‐cycle cost of buildings.

This market is a 3rd generation climate protection store with a gold certification from the ÖGNI (Austrian Green Building Council). In fact, the site produces more energy than the store uses, making it Austria’s first energy self‐sufficient supermarket. Architecturally speaking, the structure consists of a simple folded shell that arches over the triangular‐shaped property.

Image Courtesy Jasmin Schuller

The store opens onto the parking lot in all three dimensions, to the front, sideways and upwards, which creates very broad and inviting entry from this direction. On the south side, where the store tapers, a glass façade offers a “front side” to the Floßlendplatz. This reinforces the virtual effect of being drawn in and through the store and makes it appear as an open, bright and friendly market place.

Image Courtesy Jasmin Schuller

The building envelope itself features slight folds and wrinkles. This creates a different effect from each perspective, and the building thereby achieves a significant dynamic and tension: “like an athlete before jumping.” For the façade, the goal was to create a strong haptic quality with materials that convey the themes of climate protection and naturalness, but also modernity and innovation.

Image Courtesy Jasmin Schuller

The façade consists of galvanized sheet steel and wood. Due to their contrast, the two materials convey the different themes, while also creating additional excitement. The roof was designed as a fifth façade, with circular, hill‐shaped green spaces.

Climate protection store – technical implementation:

In order to achieve the goal of a climate protection store, a wide variety of measures were necessary, which can be summarized in five large areas:

Image Courtesy Jasmin Schuller

The highly‐insulating building envelope minimizes both energy loss and energy input.

The building technology includes room ventilation, heat recovery and a sectional foundation slab for cooling and heating; lighting with LED technology and daylight control systems. The use of sustainable, separable and reusable building materials, preferably solvent‐free and nontoxic.

Image Courtesy Jasmin Schuller

The micro climate at the site. This means the creation of as many green spaces as possible, including on the roof, which were designed to achieve a hydrologic balance by leaching all of the surface water on the property. In addition, the delivery area is enclosed to minimize noise emissions.

Image Courtesy Jasmin Schuller

The energy generation. In addition, a photovoltaic power plant is located in the parking lot, and a hydropower turbine will be installed in the adjacent Mühlgang stream for energy generation. These features create more energy than the store uses, and the excess energy can be fed back into the grid. The overall result is an energy self‐sufficient climate protection store that offers an inviting atmosphere for shoppers and a high‐quality workplace for employees.